Northwestern’s Fitzgerald still the bell cow’

Thursday

Aug 30, 2007 at 12:01 AMAug 30, 2007 at 7:15 AM

One in a series of stories previewing the 2007 college football season.

Tim Cronin

Pat Fitzgerald is not an actor, but he did have to play a role last season.
Named Northwestern’s head coach days after Randy Walker died, Fitzgerald had to become the surrogate leader of a group still stunned by Walker’s death.
“The players were looking for direction,” Fitzgerald said. “On the field, there needed to be one bell cow, and it needed to be me.”
It was a difficult time for everyone associated with the program. Walker was only 52 when he died. He’d recruited the entire team, plus the staff. He was full of life. And then, late on a summer night in Evanston, he was gone.
For Fitzgerald, who had talked with Walker about becoming Northwestern’s head coach some day, the job was thrust upon the 31-year-old in an instant. With it came countless other tasks associated with the university away from the team.
“He said everything was a blur to him,” running back Tyrell Sutton said.
This year, things may be more in focus.
“I’ve learned to say ‘no’,” said Fitzgerald, a former standout at Sandburg High School in Orland Park.
Not easily. Naturally gregarious, though tight-lipped when it comes to the inner workings of his team, Fitzgerald is still active but has quickly learned that he doesn’t have to be everywhere. As Sutton said, “Now, he gets more time to be a head coach than a publicist.”
And time to establish the 2007 Wildcats as his team. To that end, he invited Gary Barnett to this year’s training camp in Kenosha, Wis. It was Barnett’s first contact with the Wildcats since abruptly leaving Northwestern after the 1998 season to coach Colorado. Walker succeeded Barnett.
“I wanted my players to hear from the coach who brought the program to Pasadena,” said Fitzgerald, who starred on defense for the two Big Ten title teams Barnett coached. “He’s been a great ally of mine.”
Fitzgerald’s role as bell cow on the field continues, though less so than last year. At Camp Kenosha last season, Fitzgerald would, when the occasion arose, get down in a three-point stance or position himself at linebacker to run a play, all the better to demonstrate to his players how things would be done.
“I kept the same mentality as a linebackers coach, but in a head coaching role,” Fitzgerald said.
“He’s not done playing,” offensive lineman Dylan Thiry said. “He’s about throwing the pen and paper down and taking a rep to show us.”
There was method to the madness.
“You create a culture for the players to take over ownership,” Fitzgerald said. “They dictate the momentum of the program. Last year, they needed to see me out there in front.”
It was clear to Thiry, just as it was to others, that Fitzgerald was learning on the job, figuring out everything from delegating authority in game situations to setting the overall tone for the program. Given the circumstances Fitzgerald was saddled with last year, it’s understandable it took all season for that to happen.
“I’ve got a lot more questions answered for myself,” Fitzgerald said. “Last year, we just plugged everything in for training camp, used what we used the year before. But we didn’t have experienced athletes. And I needed to go from watching three players on film to watching everybody.”
Schedules have been tweaked - the Wildcats practice in the early morning, rather than the traditional late afternoon - and Fitzgerald watches game film as if it were shot in CinemaScope.
“Now, he’s able to finally settle down as head coach, to trust his coordinators,” Thiry said. “He’ll be able to sit back and coach.”
On the surface, last season’s 4-8 record doesn’t provide much evidence, but by the end of it, when Northwestern won two of its final three games (with the loss to No. 1 Ohio State), the Wildcats were a more cohesive group than they had been in September and October.
In the early going, the team’s fragile psyche meant a small success was as likely to be overwhelmed by a big mistake. Such as losing to Division I-AA New Hampshire at home. Such as squandering a 35-point lead and losing to Michigan State. No major college had ever lost after having a five-touchdown advantage.
Things like that aren’t expected to happen again. The bell cow has followers.
More college sports is at www.dailysouthtown.com/sports.